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Introduction To Prose: Elements Of Fiction - Characters (Part2)

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  Character A character is any person, personal, identity, or entity whose existence originates from a fictional work or performance. The people in a narrative are called characters. The author creates characters and presents his or her story through the actions and words of these characters. The author’s characterization, or means of developing a character so that they seem real, greatly affects one’s attitude toward individual characters and toward the story as a whole. Characters may simply be described, or they may reveal themselves through dialogue and action. Basically in a prose fictional narrative, there are two major characters, the protagonist and the antagonist. There are other characters too. They include the minor or supporting characters. The minor or supporting characters are involved in fewer actions or incidents in the work. Their roles are just to support the major characters in propelling the plot of the story. Characters are developed through appearance, wor...
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Introduction To Prose: Elements of Fiction - Theme And Plot (Part 1)

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 Elements of Fiction Just as a painter uses color and line to create a painting, an author uses the elements of fiction to create a story. The elements of fiction are: character, plot, setting, theme, and style. Of these five elements, character is the who, plot is the what, setting is the where and when, theme is the why, and style is the how of a story. Forster defines story as the chronological sequence of events and plot as the causal and logical structure which connects events (1927: 93). These definitions need some further clarification: A story is only a story if at least one event takes place that is something changes from state A to state B. Consider the following minimal stories: • The crocodile eats breakfast.  • Fred jumped out of bed.  • The king died. Compare to this:  • The house has blue shutters.  This last example is a description rather than a story precisely because no event takes place.  Notice also that events in a story involv...
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Introduction To Prose: Types of Prose Fiction

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Types of Prose Fiction Prose fiction is distinguished from other forms of prose because of its artistic merit, fictional base, and its design to create an epic totality of life, based on history, contemporary issues and the individual. The portrayal of life in prose fiction is done at different levels by different authors using different styles giving rise to different types of fiction. Novel, short story and novella are the main genres of prose fiction. The novel is the most popular and there are many types of novel. Basically, all these types are the same in terms of the presentation of an aspect of life but they differ in terms of style. The author’s intent, to a large extent affects the work. A writer of a historical novel would embark on a research to be able to situate the work appropriately in its historical period. On the other hand, a picaresque novelist needs only to tell an interesting adventurous story which could be from his/her imagination or based on events or experien...
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